Director of Rugby Mike Ruddock has revealed how the Warriors are setting new standards both on and off the field – after turning to a company that helped the Australians rule the world at cricket!
Warriors have this week welcomed ‘Leading Teams’ to Sixways Stadium to work with the players and coaching staff.
The Australian based firm, that have just started working in Europe, deliver teamwork and leadership programs for elite sporting organisations.
Clients who have used Leading Teams include the Australian cricket, rowing and basketball teams and New Zealand cricket teams. They also have strong links with several Super 14 sides including the Queensland Reds, Waikato Chiefs and Waratahs plus AFL sides Adelaide Crows, Sydney Swans and Hawthorn FC and NRL sides St George Dragons, Canterbury Bulldogs and Melbourne Storm.
“They have been very successful in the southern hemisphere with sporting teams, particularly in rugby league, union and cricket and the guy who is leading the operation worked last season with Greg Rawlinson and Sam Tuitupou at the Auckland Blues,” said Ruddock.
“The team was struggling a little bit at the time and this company came in and helped them to create a trademark that the players bought into and it helped them to a semi-final in the Super-14. We are hoping for a similar sort of impact in this country.”
Warriors worked with Trent Hotton, a former AFL player for Collingwood and Carlton, and Ruddock revealed the players and staff had taken a lot from the session.
“They went through everything we do with a fine toothcomb; examining our culture, examining our behaviour and our general standards from the training ground and on to the pitch,” he said.
“They are helping us to create a trademark that we want to have associated with ourselves and that we believe in. It is about examining what we are good at and what we are not so good at not necessarily in rugby matters, because that is where the coaches come into it but the whole set-up. We are looking for that one per cent to make a difference and we are hoping that this will do it.
“If you look back to the game on Friday night against London Irish, it was that one per cent that lost us the match. So if we can find that somewhere in order to get us a result, then that is what we will do.”